Hannibal: Successor
by The Real Cas
Summary: Hannibal even in his disturbing lifestyle always seeks like companions. Bedelia thought the two of them wouldn't encounter much in Italy...never had they been so wrong. When Bedelia's daughter shows up, things turn for the worst. Hannibal sees a new enticing companion, Bedelia sees a dilemma, and Serephina sees opportunity to indulge into the world's worst fears...
1. Not Like Mother, Like Daughter

The three of them sat there very politely. They all sat up straight and proper, very aristocratic-like. Hannibal's strong features still peered through his large wineglass as he sipped the sangria. Bedelia sat there eating her salad tentatively, yet had hidden determination chewing the radishes from it. Serephina sat across the table opposite Hannibal at the other head end of the table, eating the rare, juicy, bloody steak on her plate with a smile. The side salad that sat in its sad little bowl to her right hand remained untouched, and her wine was almost empty.

Serephina is the daughter of the widowed Bedelia. Her father was killed in a car wreck on the highway during an avalanche when Serephina was a mere child. Bedelia hardly raised her, but sent her to private schools from start to finish, which she excelled at, graduating early from her master's just shy of her twenty-third birthday. Coming immediately and directly from Harvard, she came to Italy to see her mother and her "husband."

The most intriguing thing about Sere was her gift of empathy and accurate, logical prediction. That is what made her great. Not good, not evil, but great at what she did. Everything she did was with purpose, and her intention was not always of the faint-hearted and innocent.

Since she could read people very well upon first meeting them, she knew who Hannibal really was…but that was when the accident happened…and her entire world changed…

"Hannibal…who am I enjoying today?" Serephina asked politely with a small, delicate, devilish smile upon her face. Her obsidian hair fell in long black waves down her back, her eyes flicked to him with eager interest as she sipped the wine, not breaking eye contact. This young girl was bold and daring, and she challenged Hannibal on a regular basis. That is why unbeknownst to the oblivious and naive, she is the perfect protégé for Hannibal. He knew it too.

"Oh just a curator. No one important." Hannibal replied with a gentle predatory smile. Her mother's blonde head snapped to her direction, sitting closer to Hannibal on the long table but on Sere's left hand side.

"Oh come now mother, I need to know so I can at least have a cohesive story. For all I know it could've been a cow." Sere responded with an eyebrow raised eyes half closed, satisfied that she frightened her mother. Sere and Hannibal though knew full well that Bedelia was not someone to trifle with either. People were antelopes and Hannibal and Sere are lions, but Bedelia was a hyena. Bedelia, without Hannibal and Sere, would be the top of the chain like a hyena would because they are intelligent and lethal; the only thing she feared was her own love and her own daughter, and she was right too.

"You dare speak to me that way?" Bedelia's tone whispered with parental authority and discipline. Normally, Sere would've been afraid and respected her mother, but she was old and dangerous enough now to push boundaries set long ago.

"Oh do take a joke mamá. Your humor over the years has become frightfully dull. I fear we might die of insanity here if there's no laughter." Sere giggled. Bedelia just looked at her jaw slighty open from shock. Hannibal grinned but chastised, "Sere, respect your mother. You know I don't tolerate improper manners."

"Yes Hannibal." Sere submitted unwillingly. "Apologies mamá." Sere tipped her head slightly to the right and bowed her head as a lady would, submitting to her mother. "Thank you." Bedelia replied, lifting an eyebrow just as Sere does, gulping white wine unlike her two companions.

Sere was very and fully aware of everything her mother and Hannibal went through while she was in school. She read all about it on her tablet, watching and reading the news by a Miss Freddie Lowndes. Sere hardly ever went to the parties that Bedelia and Hannibal attended there, and their friends from America were strangers to her. They didn't know her, but she vicariously knew almost everything about them. She was indeed intrigued by Will Graham. Sere supposed it was due to the fact that she was a licensed (though since she came from old money, she had no real need for a career in therapy. She did six months just for the fun of it) psychologist. Her curiosity was like that of Hannibal's and her intellect was just as high as her mother's.

"I went to Mass earlier today…" Sere said instigating conversation. "Oh?" Hannibal inquired. Her mother hardly ever spoke to her these days; then again she hardly spoke to anyone anymore unless she needed to.

"I saw your friend, Will Graham." Sere said with a seductive glare directed at Hannibal, analyzing each microemotion on his face. He was processing how to answer, calculating each thing to control the conversation. Naturally he'd fail, because Sere was better at persuasion, perhaps it was a female gene to easily manipulate weak men to become stronger and better, or get weeded out by natural selection. Sere's influence was the only rival that even Hannibal couldn't surpass. Bedelia was intelligent, Hannibal was calculating and philosophical, while Sere was the ultimate manipulator.

"What did he do?" He put down his knife, dabbing at the corners of his mouth with a cloth golden embroidered napkin.

"He sat there contemplating something with his eyes closed during Mass. Possibly trying to find you. You should give him more clues; I'm eager to meet him." Sere implanted the idea.

Bedelia cut in before Hannibal could ask, "Why do you want to meet him?"

"Is that wrong to want to meet someone like us? As I recall that's how you make friends. Social development of healthy people requires finding understanding, empathetic, accepting, loving, and supporting friends and family. You wouldn't want to impede my social development as a young woman now would you, mother?" Sere gave false puppy eyes through thickly mascaraed noir lashes.

"No, I suppose not. But I warn you though…" Bedelia briefly flitted her eyes to Hannibal then back to her daughter, "Be careful who you become friends with. Some are not…what they seem." Both Hannibal and Sere noticed, which was a fatal move.

Before Sere could reply, "That is why Serephina is lucky to have you as a mother and me around. I'll make sure no one hurts her." Hannibal placed his right hand on Bedelia's left, clasping, while Bedelia unconsciously gripped it lovingly. As if they really were married.

To their surprise, Sere laughed in quiet music of the room. Hannibal cocked his head, "What, pray tell, is so amusing, my darling Sere?" Hannibal curiously implored.

"We all know that last part is a lie, Hannibal." Sere laughed darkly, eyes all of a sudden went from a light chocolate brown to black marbles with only the chandeliers bouncing some glimmer of light. Even those lights got lost in the oblivion of her eyes. They were the empty void of where her soul once was…

"How so?" Hannibal inquired, still holding Bedelia's hand. Bedelia's blonde head was sweating, and through her crème colored retro 40's blouse.

"Well I could bring up what happened a few years ago, or you can hear my story." Sere prompted, leaning back in her ornamented chair, sipping the sangria with delight.

Hannibal let go of Bedelia's hand, folded his own together in front of him, and leaned forward to listen. Bedelia was already breathing shakily. "Go on with your story. I'm listening." Hannibal politely asked.

Sere leaned forward eagerly, her coal-diamond eyes unchanging.

Images in Hannibal's mind was that of the most beautiful predatory animals in the world as she spoke. Hannibal never feared much considering he knew the life he led always made himself a target. He felt like a snake among rats, but just because he had no legs from a traumatic past did not make him weak…it made him far more lethal; he was always changing his defenses and offenses, like how evolution gave some snakes constriction or venom. Sere was one of the few people he actually feared. The Indian King cobra had two enemies above him: humans and mongooses. Everything else was under his domain of power, but he knew full well that Sere was no cobra like him, she was the mongoose. Sleek, powerful, stealthy, strong, tactful, beautifully intelligent, and lethal. She was the only one other than the law, the humans, which he feared. He never showed it though. He could easily smell the sweat of fear from people, so he thought Sere's "superpower" must've been the art of reading people so accurately it mimicked telepathy.

"Let me begin with something I overheard the other day. You mentioned how you and Will mutually betrayed you, and I know by your body language, you platonically love him. I can only presume he is like Misha is some way, which is why you've changed him into something he isn't so you can fill the void of the thing you once held dear and lost. You keep filling that void, because your hunger is insatiable. Someone once said that forgiveness is the ultimate sign of love, and you even mentioned before you left your home over in the US that you forgave him. You said when he almost found you in the church catacombs, he called out to you, almost begging, that he forgives you. You know this to be true. But when dear mother asked if you forgave him, you know you still are recovering from the fact that he will never truly be like you. Yet the ultimate way you can forgive him and was indeed genuine this time was, 'I have to eat Will Graham.'" Sere paused summarizing the things she silently observed and heard from afar. Her mother's poker face was breaking at the eyes, revealing horror of how much Sere really knew. Sere continued, "I've noticed a trend with you Hannibal Lecter. The people you are indifferent towards, if they get in your way, they're simply maimed or killed. The people you hate, you kill them and eat them like an Aztec warrior gaining power from his enemies. I can only imagine that the people you truly whole-heartedly love, like your dear sister, you eat…probably with fava beans and a very nice Chianti. Let's face it you would too, because it would be impolite not to; you have too many manners unlike some." Sere grinned toward Hannibal. To Bedelia, Hannibal was unreadable, but to Sere she saw that Hannibal knew Sere is right.

"I know that the three of us are a motley crew of a 'family' but I can still sense the genuine love in the air. You say no one will hurt us, and for the most part that would be true. However, no doubt, the two of you have already played the scenarios of which one of us would die first. I imagine that one day mother will be frightened enough to kill us both; if she succeeds, she lives with the idea that she has become exactly like us, and Hannibal wins in making the ultimate companion for himself. If she fails, you either kill her, or better yet just me."

Sere paused to look at her horrified and gagging mother, "Because sometimes the best way to kill someone is to kill their loved one, just as you did in isolating Will Graham from his potential friends, family, and even his own child. Now here's the part that will puzzle your minds, which one of you would I dispose of first? Both? One or the other? Perhaps neither at all, because the anticipation is torture, which I find to be worse than death. Here's the fun part to contemplate: Hannibal could allow us to live as beloved pets, eat us both, or just the one…if mother ate me, she'd be just like you Hannibal. If I ate mother…well then that just gets complicated fast now doesn't it?" Sere giggled.

"Enough!" Bedelia hissed quietly, slamming her hands on the table, shaking the glass and silverwares. "You are a malicious, sadistic, sick child. I should've known better than to bring you here, but I had to keep an eye on you. You have a disturbed mind and imagination, and I suggest you take a good look in the mirror, and then drown yourself in the sink." Bedelia firmly asserted in a quiet tone. Sere grinned even bigger, knowing full well that her words frightened her mother to the core.

She took one look at Hannibal, knowing that she piqued his hungry interest in her, and started giggling wildly. Her laughter grew louder, as she got up from the table walking away confidently. "That's my girl." Hannibal mumbled. Bedelia looked at him with a 'are you serious' expression. Hannibal returned her shock with a 'shit happens' shrug, while finishing his sangria. Bedelia gulped the rest of her white dry wine and bolted from the table heading towards the open lounge room behind Hannibal. Sere walked to the archway with double doors that were behind Sere's side of the table. She entered the ballroom, headed toward the grand piano, and started playing Moonlit Sonata by Beethoven.

Sere played her favorite baroque classic, the haunting melody filling the void of silence in the mansion. It gave her disturbing dreams and images of dark fantasies that would frighten criminals and the insane alike. Bedelia heard the music and went to the large powder room to throw up in the sink, shaking as she white-knuckled gripped the edges. Hannibal sat back into his chair, leaned his head back, and closed his eyes. He was at peace with the evening, for him, it was like heaven.


	2. Good Will Sketching

Sitting in the drawing room that Hannibal used as his new office in the mansion, Sere sketched various things in her notebook. At the moment she was just sketching a face, filling in each feature slowly but surely. Each emotion present was in the flick of the graphite upon the thick paper. The room was fairly dark, with the blinding light flooding in from the large windows Sere sat at the window ledge seats with the light pouring in on the smudged hands working quickly then slowly over the shading of the face.

Sere tied her hair into a French twist to keep it out of the way. Few strands remained on her forehead and temples but she hardly minded. She was comfortable sitting there for hours sketching and thinking. She could get use to this kind of free time. Hannibal walked in with a manila colored file in his hands, immediately looking to the dark silhouette of Sere's busy figure, drawing away. Sere's eye acknowledged his existence, and then returned to her hobby, "Hello Hannibal."

"Good afternoon Sere. What are you sketching?" He placed his file on his desk and then strolled curiously over to her.

"Just a face." Sere replied, as he sat close next to her. Peering over her shoulder he watched her skillfully place details upon the face. Sere even tilted the sketchpad towards him so he could see better, and the corners of his mouth crept up. "You've only seen him once."

"I know, but I remember everything in detail. Excruciating detail…" Sere replied. Finishing her sketch, it revealed Will Graham's face, looking to the left side of the paper; it was a three-quarter profile of Will's calm face.

"You like him don't you?" Hannibal stated with a sharp grin looking at Sere's neck, tracing each of her features with his eyes.

"Obviously. He's intelligent, attractive, empathetic, resourceful, moral, and unpredictable. What more could a girl dream for?" Sere dreamily said. Hannibal replied, "I think he'd like you too. Who wouldn't?"

"Flattery gets you nowhere Hannibal. If you wish to eat me already, just say so. Just be careful, because while you may be devouring me, I most assuredly will devour you as I lay dying." Sere raised a challenging eyebrow to Hannibal, which made him chuckle.

"You're just a treat aren't you?" Hannibal joked. They both laughed at his pun, "Well, I think I'd be more bitter than sweet to be perfectly honest." She darkly interjected.

Hannibal looked at her wanting to know the mystery behind the words. "Please explain."

"What do I get out of it?" Sere bargained.

"I'll tell you a story for every story you tell me, fair enough?" Hannibal proposed. Only Sere was given this honest opportunity with the world's most dangerous serial killer, something doctors, lawyers, and cops would kill for. "Very well, you start then."

"What do you want to know?" Hannibal was curious at what she wanted to know since she knew so much already.

"Tell me," Sere looked at him dead in the eyes, her eyes changing again from bright brown to dark coal, "When you were about to die with the noose around your neck, being held by that psychotic orderly. What went through your mind?"

Hannibal paused with a fairly blank expression, calculating, processing why she would ask that of him. "My thoughts were a cacophony of noise clashing around in my own head. Threads came and went. My life flashed in bits, but I was processing what the orderly was saying. I prayed that Will and Jack would find me in time. I had no doubt they'd find me, but when was the question. I thought to myself perhaps it was divine justice in some sense. I was going to go home."

Sere wasn't satisfied, she leaned in closer, smelling Hannibal's aftershave, "Hannibal, I like details, not summaries. I'm not exactly a Saint, but you can trust me." She smiled a devilish smile, which even Hannibal couldn't refuse.

"What do you mean?" Hannibal asked.

"We are not animals; we respect the lives we consume. As taboo as it is, it doesn't make it immoral when the law of surviving the jungle reigns. You don't regret eating people like you imply you felt badly for other sins God could judge you on, what would they be?"

"You've seemingly given this a bit of thought Sere. Tell me, what goes on in that mind of yours?" Hannibal traced his fingertips across her temple, brushing back strand of her hair behind her ears delicately. "Nothing to different from you, I suppose." Sere stated.

Hannibal continued, "They say in the seven circles of Hell, the lowest is the stomach pit of the devil and it is only reserved only for the best liars and manipulators. Like lawyers." Hannibal smiled at the joke, and Sere only moved one corner of her mouth up, but intently looked at him, "Betrayers are the ultimate sinners. I've hurt people, I will not deny that, but I have betrayed few, and I do feel some small semblance of remorse. I thought I was going to pay for that with my life that day, before moving on somewhere. Does that answer your question better, _bella_?"

"That's much better _mein liebschen_." Sere whispered teasingly close to Hannibal's face. Drawing back she began, "It's is interesting how some people may define you based on what you said. Feeling remorse, knowing you indulge into abnormal behaviors, yet the rest may be a mystery. You're like the child's game of 20 questions…animal, vegetable, mineral, or other…or for you more like a powerful god, devil, man, or carnivore? Hmm…I'd probably fit in the latter category." Sere mused in defining their natures, and then continued, "What would you like to know about me Hannibal?"

This mysterious woman, much like her mother, was an enticing enigma he wanted to pry open and study as one would with oysters for pearls. Hannibal replied, "Tell me about the accident." He figured if she could ask about his most vulnerable, he could ask the same of her.

Something changed. For the first time in the months that Sere had stayed there in the shadows of the home, she looked wounded. Hannibal was caught off guard, and put his arm around her, "You don't have to tell me."

"No, I promised. Just…even Bedelia doesn't know." Sere said. Hannibal cocked his head to the side at the change of formality. With an inhale, Sere placed her head in the curve of Hannibal's neck, which he rested his left cheek on the crown of her head.

"It started with her attacker…" Sere began. Hannibal stopped short; not realizing it affected her too. At the time he thought she was away at school, because he may be a serial killing cannibal, but even Hannibal had standards. Hurting young children and teens were the one boundary he never liked crossing because of Misha…with Abby he never killed her. But he did what was necessary, but it was him, just him. To think that the recklessly dangerous patient actually did something, somehow bothered Hannibal and he didn't even know what Sere's story was yet. Perhaps it was because Hannibal knew Bedelia and Sere for so long he felt more attachment to them than even Will, Alana, Abby, and Jack-and he liked them though he knew them more recently.

"I came home early for summer. This time I was able to get all my things done before coming home. It had just been a year since Bedelia moved her business from down the street to our home. That summer is when you referred him over to us. For the next month he did bi-weekly appointments, and so he got to know us pretty well. Sometimes his sessions would be in the late evening so he'd have dinner with us…it was abnormal, not because of the blurred professionalism, but it was like I could read how he wasn't there even for a client. The other patients were mainly older married couples, or even just couples with autistic children. He was a unique patient, unlike many Bedelia treated. One day after dinner, Bedelia had wine, but something didn't seem right about that night. I think when he brought the wine in that day he drugged it. She went to bed saying that he could see himself out. The crime itself was simple. Elegant. The circumstances were just right, I was his victim. The perfect design of his…" Sere seemed to glance into the far corner of the room as if she was sleep walking.

Hannibal watched curiously, "Sere you still here?"

"It was painful at first then it blurred into numbness. I think that's when something in my brain decided I was going to kill him." Sere glanced at Hannibal, "You too were a normal man once Hannibal, with fairly normal circumstances of lifestyle, goals, morals, dreams, and everything…until Misha was fed to you. That's when the hunger began and never filled…I was the same all those years ago. I had never known true enjoyment of a task until after he was dead." Sere stopped, to go and walk to the fire place. Hannibal remained seated as the ever gentlemen, and pondered, "But Bedelia killed him after he attacked her. You weren't even home."

He wondered if she'd take the implant of his perception or if she would reveal something much dire. "So you think Hannibal. You may be intelligent, but there are things even you miss." Sere said taking an iron prod to shift the fireplace logs. The fireplace wasn't even lit. "Tell me what I missed then Sere."

"The man was a psychotic sadistic rapist, do you think after the first incident he wouldn't try again?" Sere asked rhetorically, "No, fortunately, it never happened again, because the next session he came over he tried to attack Bedelia in her office. I was in the kitchen, getting a bottle of water. I heard her screaming. I ran over and broke down the door, and obviously his advances were denied so he tried choking her, but Bedelia was fighting back. I took the letter opener from her desk and stabbed him as I tried stepping between them. Bedelia backed off, horrified by what I did next. Because after he fell to the ground dead, I kept stabbing his bleeding corpse. She passed out. Though I will say I surprised myself with what I did next because I rather liked taking his miserable life. I simply, put the opener in her hands, and dragged her closer to the blood pool and then removed any evidence that I was there. And the last person I saw was you entering the house as I left. I ran away to an old cabin that belong to my uncle, and stayed there until school began again for me."

Hannibal sat there, "I don't understand why you did that, at least not completely. I know you felt empowered killing him, but why blame your mother? That seems fairly cold towards a woman who raised you."

"Oh please stop the Freudian techniques, Hannibal we are both passed that. I did that not to blame but to empower her when she woke." Sere said bluntly.

Hannibal was actually impressed that this young girl thought ahead like that. If anyone didn't know her well, they'd try and figure her moral alignment, but Hannibal knew that like him, she was an enigma that would toy with people on the path to never figuring her out. "Well then, you seem to have put thought into this. Did you rationalize it that way or not?"

"If you're asking about me enjoying killing him, make no mistake I did. But I did plan to spare mother some pain. I didn't want to completely break her mind yet. So the plan of clearing evidence was on purpose before I told you the story." Sere said looking to him directly. Hannibal smiled briefly, "Seems like I found someone a little bit like myself."

"Just a little? I'm disappointed in your lack of connection to our backgrounds Hannibal." Sere said. Hannibal then proceeded to ask, "Have you killed people since?"

"Hannibal for that answer, you have to tell me another story." She replied, strolling over to pick up her drawing pad, and then walked off across the large office that mimicked his old one.

Hannibal just watched her leave and as he watched, he did see connections between her and himself. He remembered when he was her age what he had already done, and he knew what he was going to do, which wasn't pretty. Hannibal wondered what this dangerous girl was going to do next?

* * *

Bedelia hurried away before Sere came to the door. She had a feeling, but never knew the depth of how their attacker changed their lives. Bedelia at least knew the reason for Sere's insanity, and this reassured Bedelia that she was the least crazy of the three. At the same time she couldn't help but wonder why Sere became impersonal during her own narrative, but Bedelia's conclusion was frightening. Given the night before and the discourse that just occurred, lead Bedelia to believe that Sere was going to kill her and then let Hannibal eat her. It was frightening, but Bedelia had her own means of survival. In the end they were all dead, but the real question was who would be the last standing?


	3. The Devil, His Bride, and His Shadow

Sere was wandering around in a market like place smelling the delicious air, feeling the dust of ginger in the smoke of the outdoor butcher. The vegetables had the freshest most organic smells, still dirty with earth. Smiling to herself, she went into a local store and bought a pricey bottle of dark sangria made from a nearby vineyard. The sanguine liquid sloshed in the bottle to the rhythm of Sere's walking. Aside from the occasional dinner sessions and therapeutic talks with Hannibal, Sere rarely saw him. Then again she was hardly ever home. Bedelia was more reclusive as of late, locking herself in the mansion. Sere knew full well that Hannibal was attracting his former crowd with obvious murder, but still keeping to his plush lifestyle. Sere also knew that Hannibal planned on killing his friends, just as he plotted to kill Bedelia and Sere.

Yet, Sere was curious as to what would happen to Hannibal when he would get caught by a known enemy.

* * *

Remembering a talk she had with Hannibal after revealing her trip into darkness, Hannibal told her, "Do you ever think what you would be like if you were never hurt and you never killed that man?"

"Hannibal, you disappoint me. Comedy and Tragedy are the forces that shape our very souls. I have no regrets murdering him and putting it on mother's hands. Do you regret not killing your sister's murderer?" Sere asked.

Hannibal simply put, "I gave him a worse hell than death or being devoured by me, just as I engorged myself on my beloved Misha's remains." Hannibal purred.

"You don't feel it was enough to let your protégé kill or torture him, you think his indecency deserved a worse punishment, am I correct?" Sere stated the obvious.

"That's a given Sere. Try harder." Hannibal reeled her in.

Sere looked at Hannibal and mumbled, "You regret not watching it happen, don't you?"

Hannibal gave Sere an honest confirmation through his dark eyes. "Yes. I have few regrets, and not directly avenging my sister is one of them."

"Yet the fact that you can corrupt someone else to do your bidding is the taste of insatiable power…a power of dominance and control. That's the real reason you remained a cannibal instead of escaping the lifestyle that was forced upon you." Sere reasoned.

"That's better, but tell me, is it really a corrupting sin if you enjoy controlling your life? I forgave Will Graham for wanting to imprison me for breaking a few laws over that very concept. Now that you're seeing me Sere, if you were in his shoes and learned all that you know now, would you hunt with me, follow me to the ends of the earth," Hannibal hesitated by opening his mouth, choosing his words carefully, choosing-no controlling-his words, "or would you take my life or freedom because society says it is just for what I've done?"

Sere paused, looking Hannibal dead in the eyes, "Hannibal even if the creep didn't hurt me, I would've killed him anyway. He had an air of presumptuous arrogance and he mocked not only my mother but you to. He just gave me an excuse to kill him. So, you ask me if I would hunt you or hunt with you. What do you think I would do?" She danced around his question, knowing that it would perk his curiosity.

"You're telling me you would have killed him without reason simply because he was a distasteful, disrespectful, rude, and egotistical man?" Hannibal inquired, looking at Sere delicately.

"Perhaps, perhaps not. That's like asking a scorpion if it killed for defense or for food…at the point of the prey's life hanging in the balance, does it matter? The result is that the prey dies. The scorpion doesn't mourn it; it simply continues to strike with its tail."

"So, you'd probably hunt with me, yes?" Hannibal propositioned.

Sere smiled, "Naturally, but I can strike at any time, with or without reason. If I have a reason, that would plague you because you'd never know why I stung you first." Hannibal had a look of utter admiration at the reflection of himself.

Bedelia walked into the office, "Sere, I need to talk with Hannibal…alone."

Sere raised a gentle eyebrow of suspicion, but rose to leave the office, closing the door behind her. That seemed like most days; afterwards Sere would wander the markets after digging into Hannibal's mind, knowing that it bothered him that she was just enigmatic as he. No one else in the world, in any form of insanity, could be quite defined like them. Sere couldn't wait for the inevitable outcome and wanted to watch like a fly on the wall. She would merely intervene simply to enjoy the thrill of it all.

* * *

The doors closed and Bedelia sat in the warm lounge seat by Hannibal where Sere was. She stroked her blonde hair behind her ear daintily. Hannibal swallowed hard, but said nothing, his hands folded upon his lap, slightly sweating.

"What exactly do you think you're doing Hannibal?" Bedelia asked plainly.

"You have claimed that you can care for yourself, even if Will and Jack caught me. Are you worried that I will bring you with me?" Hannibal retorted.

"I'm not worried about myself, but another." Bedelia blinked at Hannibal, giving clear indication who she referred to.

"I promise you my dear; she won't be caught or hurt. I can insure that." Hannibal vowed.

"From who? I know you won't let Will or Jack within a mile of her…unless she became suddenly reckless. No, she's too much like you. She's careful, always plotting, always factoring in each and every sensation. But will you one day consume your own beloved shadow?" Bedelia questioned.

"I can eat others, but I cannot kill myself. That would be unreasonable since I enjoy the lives I live through the remains of others. To consume her would be to consume myself, and that I cannot allow. I assure you Bedelia, my shadow is safe." Hannibal leaned in to Bedelia's face, breathing upon her lips, while she felt the very heat he gave off.

"I know you keep your promises. She was right though, I always knew that you coveted me. I haven't marinated into something of your taste like your two mistakes. Though I won't bite back, I will dissolve you from the inside out as pineapples do when they are butchered in the mouth of any animal." Bedelia whispered, looking at Hannibal's glinting eyes, and strong lips. They kissed. Slowly at first, then passionately the next. Their throes of passion were like that of the classic monsters and their dark brides.

They were in essence the perfect dark trinity of the unholiest of families. The Devil, his Bride, and their Shadow. The three of them understood though never spoke this bond between them.

Hannibal brushed Bedelia's cheek, and she continued her embrace as they lay there on the lounger. "It captivates me that you don't want me to consume our beloved Sere, yet didn't mind her fall from grace, my love."

"I've watched her over the years, loved her as mothers do. One day, we walked in the forest along a gravelly path with her father and we came across a dying bird, a pigeon. He wanted to leave it be; it could die in peace, we could continue our walk. Sere, a toddler, looked at it and said it was a bok-bok. I told her it wasn't a chicken but a pigeon. Upset that she didn't get what she wanted, she stamped on the bird's neck and scratched me as I picked her up. Sere always was the kind to rid her of something she viewed as disgusting or disgraceful. She knows we all are fallen from the light, like that bird. She waits for the day when someone snaps our necks. I fear her, am shocked by her, but am a proud mother."

"That's why you never homeschooled her but sent her to private schools. She would keep you safe from her non-sympathetic teachers. Isn't it?" Hannibal concluded.

Bedelia nodded, "In my self-preservation, having a guard-dog from judgmental teachers and neighbors was an unexpected and fruitful outcome."

"What would she do to them?"

"Like you, she wouldn't do anything more than whisper in their ears, and at the echo of her voice, they'd destroy themselves." Bedelia summarized. Hannibal pulled Bedelia close, "That's our girl."

* * *

Sere strolled to the church to see Will again, for her narcissism in being an apex predator almost wanted them to get caught in the cat-and-mouse game. At the same time she wanted to be found, she avoided punishment for her own murders and aide to Hannibal's. Prison didn't seem appealing to Sere knowing that she would be stripped away from Hannibal's mentorship and her mother's support.

Sitting in the row behind Will, she studied him, looking at the way he was imagining Hannibal's life through his journey here. Will had an odd feeling of being watched, but he thought it was Hannibal, not aware that it was Sere. Will rose and turned to leave, making eye-contact with Sere. He saw that she was profiling him and gave a stroppy smile. Sere simply gave him a small smile, unblinking, and turning her head with his every step as she didn't move her body.

It was almost as if she could see in the future of what was to come.

* * *

It was the last supper. Will and Jack were tied at each ends of the table, and Hannibal was there preparing them for the main course. Sere was in another room, preparing the garnishes that would be needed later. Hannibal specifically instructed her to remain hidden, to protect her from the police. Though this anguished Sere to not assist him, she obeyed, knowing that she was indirectly helping him-so it seemed good enough.

When she heard shots, glass break, and doors being broken, she hid in a pantry as she was told. Not knowing what was going on, she stayed there. When she felt confident to come out, she wanted to help Hannibal right away.

Instead all she found was some strange woman with a shot gun. "Who are you?" Sere boldly asked, unafraid. The woman aimed her shotgun at Sere, and Sere blinked from the sudden movement. "I might ask you the same thing." The Asian girl replied.

"Where'd they take my Hannibal?" Sere demanded.

"You're Hannibal?" She lowered he rifle.

"Yes, he's mine. And if you think you have a claim, I'll kill you for being stupid enough to presume that. And I can do it without a gun." Sere threatened.

"I am the one with the rifle though." She re-aimed at Sere. "Tell me, do you enjoy killing or do you tell yourself it's for Hannibal? Did you ever kill the man who fed Hannibal his own sister?" Sere pried.

"I killed him, yes." She admitted, ashamedly.

"Did you continue to mutilate his corpse or did you think to yourself as you sat by the corpse that you became what Hannibal wanted? I'll tell you, I enjoy destroying remains by absorbing them." Sere pushed the question, which made the girl look shocked. "How could you know that? How?" She lowered the rifle.

"Oh, so you did think to yourself. Don't worry, not everyone is like Will…or better yet me." Sere bragged dangerously.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Serephina; you could say I'm the other person that Hannibal sees in the mirror." The eyes revealed to Sere that she was clearly lower in the food chain, and a new respect formed towards Sere, though they are both stranger to each other.

"Hannibal was taken with Will and Jack to America, to some Verger Pig Farm. I dare not go, but you," She paused looking up at Sere, "You're dangerous enough to go, save Hannibal, and please Hannibal by gobbling them all. You're the devil, aren't you? Have you come to judge us?"

"No, I am a simple reaper; I gather my grain, crush it, make flour, and then bake my daily bread. The devil just slaughters; whereas, I control the seasons that can scorch, drown, or famish the wheat fields. Then, I relish in the aftermath." Sere replied, walking out the door, leaving the woman aghast.


	4. The Great Ebony Wendigo

The moment Sere left the building, she stormed into the night with hell following her. Going down a narrow alley, Sere strode quickly and stealthily, dodging the laundry that hung in the crisp air, blowing the smells of mineral water and pungent body odor around the aisle. Fairly upset at learning that she couldn't protect Hannibal released a rage she couldn't quite quell. Something spontaneous happened-Sere felt like being a little reckless.

A young homeless man sat on the ground, eating two large sticks of carrots with the leaves still attached to them. He looked about late forties, early fifties, as if he was a museum curator gone poor. His stench was overwhelming, but he kept to himself near a wooden barrel with garbage piled around it. Sere stopped abruptly and slowly approached the man, who cowered at her sight, " _Ciao_ (Hello)." Sere said in a musical Italian voice. The man eyed her, relaxing seeing the pretty young woman in front of him. She was dressed elegantly in black liquid leggings with a red Queen Anne styled corset atop a flowy black knee-length chiffon skirt.

Like a black widow, she lured her prey into her web so eloquently with gentle words, "Perché sei così triste (Why do you look so sad)?" He eyed her and licked his lips as a rabid dog would. "Sei sola mia cara (Are you alone my dear)?"

"Ma naturalmente, io sono tutto solo ... si dovrebbe trarre vantaggio ... (But of course, I'm all alone…you should take advantage)" Sere said leaning into the man's dirty smelly face. The man looked left and right, quickly standing up, revealing that he was a good six inches taller than Sere. Sere laughed wickedly at the disheveled man before her. He simply asked, "Cosa è così divertente (What's so funny)?"

"Pensate davvero, con o senza il mio permesso, che siete in grado di rubare me (Do you honestly think, with or without my permission, that you're able to rob me)?" Sere cut her laugh short, looking darkly at the man, starting a low growl. The man took his hands off his rope-ish belt, and backed up until he hit the wall. If he knew any better he could physically over power Sere, but she was too cunning. Sere simply played with the hem of her corset, where it was starting to unravel, taking out a loose steel bone, she flashed it in the night. Grinning devilishly, she looked from her weapon to the man, who had the doe-eyes of impending death.

The man's Adam's apple gulped like a frog, clearly scared. A flash of lighting, and the man's face remained frozen, as he dropped to his knees, bleeding from the gaping gash across his throat, falling flat onto his face. Sere looked down at herself seeing that the blood sprayed from his neck onto her whole chest and corset. The dark crimson liquid shone on her bright scarlet apparel, showing the contrast of red. Playing with the blood, she applied some as lipstick and blush, while she dipped her fingers in the pool where the man lay. Her nails dripped with death, as she carried her silver sliver of metal and hummed while walking home.

Bedelia simply gasped as Sere entered the mansion. Sliding into the lounge room, Sere slithered towards her mother, who sat upon the Victorian sofa. Bedelia sat back as Sere stopped in front of her, but took one more sudden step that startled Bedelia, making her hit her back on the pillows. Sere giggled, "Boo."

Bedelia simply sighed, "Are you satisfied knowing that you're just like him?"

Sere mocked, "Oh mama, you simply don't understand do you?" She sat by her, leaning exaggeratedly, placing her head on her mother's shoulder. She wrapped her arms around Bedelia, still holding her steel bone, but it was gently pressed into Bedelia's left side. Bedelia swallowed hard, eyes brimming with fear and awe. "What is it that you want me to understand, Serephina?"

"Oh come now, you can do better than that." Sere's words echoed Hannibal, to where Bedelia could've sworn she heard his voice over hers.

"I simply want to make you both proud…but there is one day where the child surpasses the parent, and becomes the parent you know." Sere monologued as Bedelia continued looking straight forward not glancing down at her own child.

"Did you know other than the black widow; there are other cannibalistic kinds of spiders…" Sere began.

Bedelia has a tear slowly trudge its way down her cheek, "Which spiders are you referring to?"

"Cellar Spiders are actually found here in Italy, and around Europe. The female, like the male, is aggressive and will do anything to survive. Imagine some of the things it will do, if people did it, it's regarded as immoral, yet if spiders eat one another it's considered the nature of the beast. The female will eat its mate if it has to, especially if it has an orb of eggs in its little home. Other than itself, it would do anything and everything necessary to protect the little spiderlings. After the babies hatch, the mother will train the spiderlings for two weeks on how to hunt and thrive like she did…and not all things live. What better way to lovingly teach their children to hunt and what is a more honorable way to die than that?" Sere drifted off, unblinking, turning her head to look at her mother.

Bedelia trembled as she mechanically looked down at her daughter peering up at her face, "Excuse me, what?"

Sere laughed gently, "The children love to learn from their mothers, and the mothers love their children enough to let them do what is necessary to live, to survive, to thrive…they ingest their mothers."

"The mother spider is eaten by her child?" Bedelia whispered, the tear's trek left its trail upon her cheek. Sere wiped it away, "Yes mama. That's what they do."

"Are you going to kill me? Is that why you waited so patiently like a spider? For the right time?" Bedelia darkly asked.

"Yes I will kill you…as for the right time, it isn't now. Take comfort mama, you both should be proud, honored really, that I love you enough to not just kill you, but consume you. As the Aztec warriors did, I will gain the very best parts of you. My favorite part of the Lion King was the circle of life…didn't God send his son to be a Father to humanity, and we take his bread and wine as his body and blood? Imagine, if we are forgiven in our souls by becoming one with God, then unifying ourselves with loved ones will fulfill our hearts and minds. Enemies invigorate our spirit of vengeance, and so in a way death provides scales of equality. I am like the judging reaper…"

Bedelia opened her pursed mouth to say, "When will you kill me then?"

"Our bodies are prisons for our souls; death is the bridge-a journey-to freedom. I choose the time and place for some, and it's inevitable. For you mother, you still are imprisoned in the belly of Lucifer, you're not free from demolishment yet. After all, the lowest circle of hell is the pit of Satan's stomach, not the level of hell where the devil resides. I wonder if our cannibalistic stomachs are gateways to being devilish gods…but be warned, the acidity of his bowels can still make you fall even further from grace with no chance at redemption for your betrayals."

"How did I betray you in such a way that you speak with a forked tongue?" Bedelia gritted her teeth.

"Mother, I wouldn't have been offended if you ate Hannibal like an emetic wildfire. That would keep the balance, you ate him, and I ate you, and so on. But you would senselessly kill him out of fear for me. Betrayal of his love is just unforgivable. The three of us are family, are we not?"

"We are my sweet girl. We are." Bedelia held her daughter. Sere got up, kissed her mother's dry right cheek, and went to leave. Bedelia sighed in relief, since her side ebbed beads of blood from the steel bone.

Sere turned as she stood in the archway, "I am going with Hannibal, and we both know you won't follow right away. The Babylonian Whore must continue to spread lies to not only the world but to herself too. As I recall, Lucifer is king on the throne of lies, and you're his beloved."

Sere went to pack and leave for Baltimore, while Bedelia went to get a special hallucinogenic drug to forget her daughter and to assume the lies she's living.

* * *

Hannibal turned himself in, out of fatherly love to Will and friendship to Jack. Sere didn't know of this when she reached her home nearly half a day later. Coming back to her abandoned home, she hid out in the dust covered estate. Thinking of the places Hannibal would be. She knew him well, but the moment she had an epiphany, the phone rang.

Odd, Sere thought, why would it ring? Answering the phone she answered with quiet breathing.

"Sere, are you there?" Hannibal's voice rang clearly, while Sere felt relieved. He found her first.

"Yes." She sighed relieved. "Why wouldn't you let me protect you?"

"I had another to look after, a promise to keep, to remain unhidden for Jack and Will. You must stay there." Sere was filled with disappointment, "So, you still have hope they'll fall? They're not like us."

"I know, but without dreams, why sleep?" Hannibal voiced gently to Sere. "Your heart is passionate, one day I might not eat it, but keep it for my own."

Sere smiled over the phone, "At least I'm the favorite. Will you ask for a lawyer? I assume this is your only call?"

"Yes I called you, and I can plead guilty with insanity on my own, only others need lawyers." Hannibal said.

"Thank you Mark Twain." Sere said.

"Did _mon cher_ follow you?" Hannibal hoped.

"Not yet, her journey is like a glacial syrup." Sere replied.

"She will. You can visit me anytime you like _meine liebe_. I'd love it." Hannibal requested.

"I'll bring snacks and treats…special ones made with…love, blood, sweat, and tears." Sere grinned.

"I look forward to it, I'll see you soon _cara mia_." Hannibal finished.

"I'll see you soon." Sere hung up the phone. Looking around the grandiose home with lavish furnishings, Sere knew how she was going to spend her time and money renovating the place. It was to her advantage that hardly anyone knew of her, let alone where she is, and how or if she was involved with Bedelia and Hannibal's Bonnie-and-Clyde misadventures. Sere was going to have to get to work.

Sere was methodically transforming into the Prodigious Ebony Wendigo.


	5. Manchurian Candidate

Three years passed by as the most exquisite plan formulated in Sere's mind. Since Hannibal turned himself in, she was alone in the world just as he was. She knew that Will Graham and Dr. Bloom along with all the rest moved on. Though they had never met her personally, they all knew of her mother Bedelia. Sere left one disposable note to Hannibal on toilet paper in his prison by simply bribing one of the many interning orderlies that just started in the sanitation of the Baltimore State hospital. No one knew that Hannibal received this letter because no one was really looking to begin with.

The plan was simple and provocative. It would entice anyone in the FBI for case studies, and it naturally drew Hannibal into Sere's emerging darkness. For all intents and purposes Sere lived off the grid because of her mother. Bedelia's natural fear of her own daughter helped forge this delightful little plan Sere cooked up. Other than her birth certificate and schooling and her wealthy bank account, hardly anyone knew she existed. Sere decided to keep to the reclusive shadows. Even though she had a fairly evil past, most people just assumed (disregarding the naturally large amounts of evidence against both Hannibal and Bedelia) that Hannibal and Bedelia did crimes internationally. Sere did her fair share of crimes, but the eyes of the police overlooked her crimes in search mainly for Hannibal even though each of their crimes matched their evilness. Hannibal being the cruelest and Bedelia being the most predictable. Sere though was something else entirely…

The only reason Bedelia remained outside of prison was simply because of being around Hannibal. While he remained in the criminally insane lock box of his, Bedelia underwent many court-mandated therapy sessions in lieu of prison as an accomplice.

When they found Bedelia, she was drugged up with hallucinatory drugs believing the lie she lived as Hannibal's wife. Even putting that aside, she had Stockholm and mental abuse; for the professionals deemed Hannibal ruthless and lethal, so Bedelia did what she had to in order to survive. It was like being dragged to Hell to be the Devil's at first unwilling, then willing Bride. Bedelia was dangerous in her own right like Hannibal, but it paled in comparison to the Monster himself. Everyone just shrugged it off that she did atrocities too because she was afraid. What people overlooked in her personality that drew Bedelia and Hannibal together is the fact that she did it all freely with him-the only assumption the doctor's made on her behalf that was indeed incorrect. Bedelia was afraid of getting caught. Like Hannibal, she risked her life and freedom for the intoxicating and addicting lifestyle Hannibal gave her through gourmet cannibalism.

She was in a sense like Will Graham, a tortured and conflicted soul. She loved Hannibal though, which made her desire the forbidden evils he offered; whereas, Will sought after the simple life that so eluded his grasp. Eventually, he'd find a cohesive family of his own unlike Bedelia whose family was falling apart. She just remembered that Will, a man who killed killers in the name of the law, who empathized with killers, and was disturbed at his acceptance( not to be confused with pleasure) of killing criminals would save the injured bird. Bedelia remembered that she'd crush the bird as any survivalist of the fittest would. Bedelia reminisced over her accidental killing of her attacker as she enjoyed the rush, and she remembered her lecture of the Devil himself, drawing similarities between the Devil and his relationships just as she and Hannibal are.

Unlike her mother though, Sere was not an idle bystander or opportunistic killer with confliction in morals. Sere remembered when Hannibal stabbed a man through his head and her mother pulled out the knife. Hannibal stated that Bedelia killed the man by removing it-ironic for someone trying to save him. Bedelia was just tired of the cat and mouse play, and killed him quickly as to not leave a trace of her wrath. Or so Bedelia explained. Sere differed in sadism, Hannibal liked the game of mental and physical murder, Bedelia was a sweet short and to the point killer, but Sere liked torture instead. Sere found Hannibal and Bedelia to be too kind with death, which is why she embraced cannibalism. It was torture through desecration, even though the victim was dead.

Sere also differed in who the victims were to begin with. Hannibal ate the rude and those who stood in the way, he never left loose ends. Bedelia killed those she "helped" because they didn't need to be in a scary world of folks like them-again delving into her mindset of social Darwinism of the survival of the fittest. Only once did Hannibal actually eat his loved one, but has warmed up to the idea of it too. Sere was intrigued by it because what better way to keep your loved ones close and enemies closer? The beloved would seep their memories into the very soul, and the enemies would be desecrated by the unholy bowels of the monstrous devil themselves. Hannibal was like the old Aztec warriors of old, but Sere decided against this. Sere decided that she wouldn't eat decent people, Hannibal, Will, or Bedelia because they aren't worth the time or chase-it'd be boring. Sere's tastes would only be satisfied by the cruelest of scum, slowly gaining their darkness one by one.

At least that was the idea. Again, Sere was overlooked because of Hannibal's imprisonment and her mother's hiatus. It seemed like a setback but was indeed an even better opportunity for Sere to emerge as her own entity. Ironically she'd emerge unknown rather than known as she would have liked. It was better because as a loner whose mother forced her into reclusion doesn't need spotlight, Sere would come off grid much better than being a gift horse in the spotlight like her mother. Bedelia, like her daughter, eventually changed her identity and left her old life, leaving Hannibal and Sere behind. When it came to Hannibal, Sere, and Bedelia committing crime in the world, suave debonair entrances and exits with class was always a must needed necessity.

Yes, Sere spent these three years formulating the perfect plan rearranging and falsifying documents, living off grid, and one other important thing to make this plan work-so that only she and Hannibal would know of. No one else would ever know, not Will, not Bedelia, not the newest killer Tooth Fairy, not the FBI.

The key to this plan lied with Sere and Hannibal in simply the name of the transformation. Much like the Tooth Fairy/Red Dragon-whom Sere felt was an imitation of her to gain the attention of Hannibal; it was a complete change of who she is as a person into becoming her own Shadow, a Predator, and a Lion. The best deceivers are said, like lawyers for instance, are fabled to go to the lowest circle of Hell, the bowels of Satan himself. Sere's deception as the Shadow was something everyone would love and not expect. Her new personality would be like her mother's in a sense, a Jekyll to Sere's self. A light. With the exception of possibly two people, no one would see the lie of the blinding deceptive Light that Sere would become. After the three years she was ready to take flight as her transformed self, even though to enact her long-term plan it would take a lot of faith, luck, a few more years, lying about her new life and age, and the skills she already has. Once she was ready Sere left her old life behind in search of her new one with Hannibal. Even though Sere and Hannibal promised to keep in touch, they never did while he was in prison, or even when he escaped (except for the one message between them). Now they'd start to see each other again after a long time.

It all began with one infamous chilling phrase…

* * *

The Mustang purred as it drove up to the Baltimore State Hospital. A young girl (we once knew as Serephina) stepped out of her car and headed inside, showing off her necessary ID's and such paperwork. Barney was one of the orderlies who gave the girl the rundown of how the prison worked so she wouldn't get caught off guard if anything happened. She was quickly briefed over what she needed to discuss with the interview about Buffalo Bill, the newest serial killer on the east coast. The girl was then briefed on the infamous man she was about to meet: Dr. Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lecter. A serial killer addicted to gourmet cannibalism. It was explained to her that it was speculated by the staff that this mysterious foreign man probably had a lean winter which turned him into a killer. They told the girl that according to people who study ancient tribes around the globe took interest in Hannibal's psychosis because it seemed evident that cannibalism is addictive like heroine which could be why he was serial and not just an exotic psycho chef. The staff surprisingly didn't frighten the poor girl with the facts and speculation on the charming and alluring appeal of the killer Doctor. They thought simply this girl was just made of steel-perfect for the FBI. If they only knew her true background…

The young girl walked up and saw the Doctor (though not for the first time, in spite of her mind telling her. She dismissed it as de ja vu because of the media) stand in his cage with an eerie and happy smile towards her. A panel of bulletproof glass stood between her and the madman, with small quarter sized holes a meter up off the ground.

She smiled back briefly, but before she could say anything, Hannibal said chillingly:

"Hello Clarisse."


End file.
